Trade Secrets

Definition:Information used by a business, which can be legally protected that
is secret to the general public and is critical to the livelihood
and success of a business
.

How a product is made or ingredients that go into it, even
customer lists, can be protected as a trade secret. Source codes
for computer programs and the formula for Coca-Cola® are common
examples. The critical requirement for trade secret protection lies
in maintaining the secret. Methods or information revealed to the
public cannot be protected under trade secret laws.

As is the case with computer crime, protecting your trade
secrets and other proprietary information is largely a matter of
common sense. The first thing to do is identify your trade secrets.
These include any information you use to operate your business that
you consider valuable enough--and secret enough--to give you an
edge over your competition. Trade secrets can be product designs,
customer lists, sales forecasts and many other types of data.

Once you've conducted an audit of your trade secrets, you need
to set up policies to protect them. These can consist of the
following:

Make sure everyone who sees your secret information is aware
that it is secret. Notify partners, customers, suppliers and
employees exposed to proprietary secrets that the material is
confidential. Get them to agree not to use it against you or to
disclose it to anyone without your written permission. Get this in
writing; and have them sign these nondisclosure agreements. Stamp
documents "Confidential."

Use employee and visitor identification badges to control
access to your business. Establish rules requiring people to sign
sensitive documents in and out.

Set up passwords. Use them to access computers, copiers, fax
machines and other machines that could be used to copy or transmit
secrets.

When employees leave, take measures to ensure that secrets
don't leave with them. Collect sensitive materials from the offices
of terminated employees before allowing them to return to their
desks. And before they go, remind them of the nondisclosure
documents they signed.